The present invention relates to digital networks, and in particular, to the problem of providing known IP addresses for services provided by a swarm of wireless access points.
As used herein, a swarm is defined as a set of cooperating digital devices communicating over a digital network. One example of a swarm is a group of wireless access points (AP) providing wireless services to clients. Other examples of swarms are clusters of computers operating as a render farm, or other distributed computing tasks.
The composition of the swarm may change dynamically. As an example, access points may be added dynamically to a swarm, or may be removed from service.
An important aspect of a swarm is the distribution of services across swarm members. As an example, in a swarm of wireless access points, aspects of the functionality normally provided by a separate controller such as administration and configuration may be distributed over members of the swarm. And while this functionality may be hosted by any member of the swarm, there may still be a need to provide access to these services, such as by providing fixed IP addresses. In that way, clients may use the services without needing to know which member of the swarm is hosting the service.
What is needed is a way to provide and maintain addresses for services provided by members of the swarm.